Dave Holby’s round-the-world rowing feat has earned him a place in Guinness World Records 2013, alongside Olympic greats such as Michael Phelps and Sir Steve Redgrave.

Seated on a machine in The Malls shopping centre in Basingstoke, Dave, affectionately known as Dave the Rower, rowed the equivalent of 40,075km over two years, six months and 20 days, finishing in December 2010 (top left).

As he did it, he was raising money for charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

He said: “It was a bit of a boyhood dream to make it into the Guinness book of world records. It’s just amazing to see my name in there.”

Referred to as ‘Dave the Rower’ in the famous record book, his citation also includes a mention of The Malls and, of course, Basingstoke.

The 31-year-old from Long Copse Chase in Chineham, appears in the Strength and Endurance section of the record book, alongside some of the world’s greatest athletes such as 18-time gold medallist Michael Phelps and Steve Redgrave, who won rowing gold medals in five Olympic Games.

Dave said: “I feel like a complete fraud being listed next to people like that. I didn’t expect my record to be included, I think only about eight per cent of entries get in the book. It’s absolutely fantastic.”

Dave’s wife Lara gave birth to the couple’s first child, baby Saskia, last month, but Dave is still finding the time to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and has run 750 out of the 1,000 miles he pledged to run this year.

He has already raised more than £22,000 in total through all of his fundraising.